a programmer's point of view

With recent update of the Atom editor from GitHub, developing C++ application just started to be more pleasant. Enhancing the editor with packages which use clang tools enables features for easy and quick program writing, good for creating proof of concept applications.

Installation

On homepage for Atom, atom.io, there are precompiled packages to download as well as the source code. I use Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu and uses apt package manager, so below instructions add an apt source for easy updates.

Add atom ppa repository

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/atom

Update apt package db and install atom

sudo apt update && sudo apt install atom

Enhancing Atom with packages

Installing packages is very easy in Atom. For C++ development I use packages which use clang and clang tools, those need to be installed separately, check apt source for clang.

The autocomplete packages are very helpful when using STL components. Linter helps quickly discover mistakes, potential bugs when typing.

I use CMake to generate the appropriate build files, so that I can just type ‘make’ and rebuild the application. Autocomplete for cmake helps a lot when adding new instructions, which sometimes are long.

Snippets

For quicker program writing, I like to use snippets. I added two for now to help me quickly setup a new program folder. One with main function and one with CMake instructions.

For two month I have been using a Broadband network connection at home. It’s an LTE connection, it’s fast and reliable. In my flat the network signal is strong.

I use Linux Mint on my laptop, so naturally I wanted to use a modem, which is working under Linux. I have a Huawei E3276 USB modem, which is working just fine.

The Internet service would be great, however my ISP does impose a transfer limit. I’ve got a contract for 15 GB of downloaded data per month. It looks like not much, but it’s enough for my usage. I work in IT, so I have enough computer and Internet access during my work. At home I just read articles and blog posts, some Youtube movies or even a bigger download.

When the transfer goes off, my connection speed is limited to 512 Kbit/s. Fortunately the connection isn’t cut off completely or I don’t have to pay additionally for bytes downloaded above limit.

To quickly check how much transfer is remaining in current month I wrote a Python script. The scripts in order to work needs vnstat Linux command line tool.

I recently wanted to change my default LinkedIn profile from Polish to English and it turned out that such feature does not exists. Even LinkedIn’s help center stated that at this moment there is no such posibility. One can create new, different profiles in other languages, but they are only secondary.

The thing is that the default profile is determined at registration, when I chose Poland it automatically set my default language to Polish.

I work in IT and in an international company, so I wanted to be seen internationally in English.

There is a solution to this. I created a new LinkedIn account with my other e-mail. At registration I chose Ireland, which caused to set my profile to be English. The area in which we reside can be changed later. Then I simply send a request to LinkedIn’s support to merge my old account to my new account. Unfortunately all my work experience was lost, but my connections were preserved, which was the desired outcome. I didn’t want to find all the people again.

After I received from the support that my accounts were merged, I filled my work experience data.

When a software product is developed, not only the product is the outcome, but sometimes many tools, which support the development process. I work as an embedded software developer. In my work many times I faced situations, that I do the same operation or set of operations repeatedly. When there is opportunity, I try to automate. Of course, if there is time to automate, because sometimes it’s not so obvious what or how to automate. Many times I create small command line tools, which usage is known only to me. When working with other developers it’s better to share these tools, but not always command line is the best. When developing helper tools, it’s better to have a GUI. A developer just selects what he or she wants and does not have to think about what command and following option should be typed.

My weapon of choice is Qt library. Why Qt? Qt is portable, is very rich when it comes to various components, if the developed tool will be free, the library is also free. The library provides a layer of abstraction, it abstracts the underlying operating system’s functions and hardware. Building Qt application is very easy with Qt Creator, Qt’s IDE with very strong C++ awareness and a graphical UI designer, the GUI can be quick created and the logic, which will drive the GUI’s operations is written in C++.

I want to learn programming with Qt and C++, because I want to make standalone tools, which can be loaded on a USB memory. Qt applications can be deployed as normal, which use shared Qt libraries, installed separately in the OS or they can be deployed as standalone applications. Of course, the only thing is that a Qt application is compiled for a given target OS. If another target OS should be support, the application has to be rebuild for that OS.

First book is very simple, goes from basic, through intermediate to advanced topics. Second book explains on the topics more deeply. Exploring Qt Creator’s examples is very easy, on the welcoming screen is a tab with examples – Demos and Examples.

I was previously trying to tackle the topic of learning Qt using the first book, but I couldn’t get it how some things should be made in Qt Creator. I prefer some live example, so the video tutorials by VoidRealms are just great. He does all the examples in Qt Creator, so it is easier to get familiar with this IDE.

I didn’t root my SGS2. I was waiting long for the Jelly Bean Android update for my SGS2 International. Today, finally, I plugged the phone to my computer and KIES informed me that there is a newer version of firmware for my phone. Of course, without waiting I installed it.

It took a little while to download the update data, but there was no problem with the installation. It went very smooth. Even my personal data and applications were on the device after installation.

So, for the first look at Jelly Bean I can tell: it is newer, better, much more beautiful. Look and feel was improved. I think that the device became more responsive for my interactions. The most awaited feature was the more rich notification area. I can now get rid of the power control widget, which took much space of my home screen. Also more configurable home screen and shortcuts on the lock screen are great features, which improve the usefulness of the device.

My Odroid booted, the Android version is 4.0.4. Unfortunately, the Odroid image cannot contain Google Apps, just like other mods for phones or tablets. So there is no Google Play to download more applications. This isn’t a big problem, the GApps can be manually installed.

Thanks to Cyanogenmod team, there is a package with GApps. However, it cannot be installed like a standard apk, because it will crash.

Preconditions
Odroid has to be rooted. The USB debugging option in settings has to be turned on, because the GApps will be installed via adb.

This indicates that there are no rules for my device in udev rules. At first I need to known what USB device is this, in particular the vendor and model values. To determine these options I run lsusb with my device still connected:

$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 010: ID 18d1:0002 Google Inc.
(...)

My device’s vendor id is 18d1 and model id is 0002. Now, this information needs to be added to udev rules configuration files.

I put this line into /etc/udev/rules.d/50-usb-serial.rules and restart udev:

Finally I bought a new HDMI-HDMImicro cable. The new one is of a greater quality, it isn’t a super expensive cable from the most top shelf I could find, but it isn’t the cheapest either.

The damaged cable demotivated me a little, I couldn’t get myself to find it quicker. Also I wanted to read something about the HDMI and HDMI cables. I found out that Ethernet can be encapsulated through an HDMI cable. Instead of looking on an internet auction, I wanted to find a store at my city, so when it would be also damaged, I could give it back. I found store near my work and to my surprise, the store was specialized only in HDMI cables.

Old cable on the left, new on the right. Then new one feels a little better in quality then the older one. Even the gold color on the connectors is more intense.

I connected the new cable and it does not matter at which angle it is connected, the image is always crystal clear.